Mr Landini recently held two public meetings in Barham and Deniliquin to discuss problems caused by the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, timber harvesting prohibitions and other natural resource restrictions and the "benefits" of forming a separate state west of the Great Dividing Range.
“While attendance was less than the importance the issues deserve, the presentation and quality of discussion was exceptional,” he told the Riverine Herald.
“The evident desire to form a Riverina state and the ideas and determination to achieve this was inspiring. There was even talk about including northern Victoria.
“If people realised how important this issue is, everyone in the area would have attended.”
In saying that, the former Nationals Deniliquin branch chair said he had a huge amount of support behind him.
“Everyone I talk to wants this,” he said.
He said people in the Murray electorate had been in an ongoing water disaster since the passage of the Water Act in 2007 and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in 2012 and the only solution to ensure the survival and prosperity of our communities was to form a new state.
“Eight years of failure,” he said.
“This water problem, as well as the disasters with timber harvesting and natural resource management, is underneath a bigger political problem. Numbers in NSW are overwhelmingly concentrated in Newcastle, Sydney and Woollongong and that's a problem because they have no agricultural financial interests.”
Mr Landini said three quarters of the population and politicians in NSW lived in the Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong areas, and in the 2019 election, just under 300,000 of them voted for the Greens.
“The Greens are opposed to all irrigation and timber harvesting,” he said.
And with 93 electorates in the state, 70 of those in metropolitan hubs, Mr Landini said regional electorates like Murray which had a lot of land but a fraction of the voters battled to be heard in state parliament.
“We are overwhelmingly dominated by a Green majority and politicians are chasing the Green vote. If any politicians in major parties want to advocate for farmers, they will lose votes from metro areas and lose government,” he said.
Mr Landini said the formation of a new state would increase the influence of the people in the Riverina.
“That means the people in the Riverina could make a decision as to how the water is used and how native forests are managed. It won't be decided by Greenies in Sydney,” he said.
To form a new state, Mr Landini said all that would be required was consent from the NSW Parliament.
“A referendum of the people of Murray and the wider Riverina would need to be held in conjunction with an election,” he said.
Mr Landini said he would continue to hold public meetings to raise awareness of the issues and gain supporters.
“No doubt nothing else will make any difference,” he said.
“I have a lot of enthusiasm, conviction and determination.”
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